Miami Heat preseason schedule released, with three home dates

It would be overselling to characterize Oct. 19 as an NBA finals rematch.

Based on the history of the two teams, it’s unlikely that the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs will both play all of their stars in a preseason contest. After all, the Heat sat their top players against the Spurs during the 2012 preseason, and then the teams took turns resting starters in their two regular season meetings, before ultimately meeting in a spirited seven-game series in June.

Still, in October, you take what you can get.

That will actually be Miami’s sixth preseason game on an eight-game schedule that also includes home dates against the Southeast division-sharing Atlanta Hawks (Oct. 7) and new-look for old-men Brooklyn Nets (Oct. 25). Miami will play four road games, in Detroit, Washington D.C., Brooklyn and New Orleans. And it will play host, in Kansas City, to the recently-renamed Charlotte Hornets.